Frankie Morbidelli put his new Yamaha into the kitty litter and the bike started on fire.

By Dean AdamsSuperbikePlanet Editor

Friday, March 8, 2019

A fairly entertaining session once riders spooned on soft tires and went for it. Several riders were fastest in the session until MM93 decided to drop the pre-season facade and rocketed to the fastest time with a half second to spare.

Lorenzo is struggling with front end feel (shock!). The new seat on his bike looks like something pulled from the old stock room at a farm implement dealer.

Frankie M put his new Yamaha into the kitty litter and the bike started on fire.

The Suzukis looked fast on soft tires.

Ducati riders enjoyed the ultra-fast circuit and nearly all were able to pull a quick time.

Pos.

Rider

Team

Bike

Time

1

Marc Marquez

Repsol Honda

Honda RC213V

1:53.380

2

Maverick Vinales

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha YZR-M1

1:53.854

3

Jack Miller

Alma Pramac Racing

Ducati

1:53.908

4

Danilo Petrucci

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

1:54.053

5

Fabio Quartararo

Petronas Yamaha SRT

Yamaha YZR-M1

1:54.154

6

Andrea Dovizioso

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

1:54.256

7

Franco Morbidelli

Petronas Yamaha SRT

Yamaha M1

1:54.275

8

Alex Rins

SUZUKI ECSTAR

Suzuki GSX-RR

1:54.320

9

Aleix Espargaro

Aprilia Racing – Gresini

Aprilia RS-GP

1:54.367

10

Joan Mir

SUZUKI ECSTAR

Suzuki

1:54.402

11

Jorge Lorenzo

Repsol Honda

Honda RC213V

1:54.428

12

Takaaki Nakagami

LCR Honda IDEMITSU

Honda RC213V

1:54.444

13

Cal Crutchlow

LCR Honda CASTROL

Honda RC213V

1:54.452

14

Roger Lee Bagnaia

Alma Pramac Racing

Ducati

1:54.801

15

Tito Rabat

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1:55.032

16

Pol Espargaro

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1:55.053

17

Valentino Rossi

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha YZR-M1

1:55.137

18

Johann Zarco

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1:55.412

19

Andrea Iannone

Aprilia Racing – Gresini

Aprilia RS-GP

1:55.432

20

Miguel Oliveira

Red Bull KTM Tech 3

KTM

1:55.635

21

Karel Abraham

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1:55.654

22

Hafizh Syahrin

Red Bull KTM Tech 3

KTM

1:56.437

23

Bradley Smith

Aprilia Factory Racing

Aprilia RS-GP

1:56.834

Former Qatar MotoGP pole man Jonny Zarco was dead last for much of the session and his facial expression coming down the pit lane looked reminiscent of Scott Russell the first time he rode the Harley-Davidson VR 1000 Superbike at Daytona. The French rider cleaned it up enough at the end of the session to record the 18th fastest time … but is nearly an entire second off Marquez’s time.